December 13, 2024
Just 27% of the public are extremely or very confident in Donald Trump’s ability to appoint well-qualified individuals to his cabinet and other high-level positions. Twice as many, 55%, are only slightly or not confident at all.
Views of specific nominees, like Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Marco Rubio, are highly partisan. Democrats are more likely to disapprove of their nominations and Republicans are more likely to approve.
The vast majority of Democrats, nearly 9 in 10, lack confidence in Trump’s ability to assemble a well-qualified cabinet, or to effectively manage the White House, the military, and government spending. Roughly 6 in 10 Republicans are very or extremely confident in Trump’s abilities.
While more independents are confident in Trump’s abilities compared to Democrats, more independents lack confidence than have confidence in his ability to assemble a cabinet, or manage the White House, military, and government spending.
The nationwide poll was conducted December 5-9, 2024 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,251 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.7 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “Few are confident in Trump’s ability to assemble a qualified cabinet” (December 2024). https://apnorc.org/projects/few-are-confident-in-trumps-ability-to-assemble-a-qualified-cabinet/
